Why Do “Progressives” Like Samuel Charap Shill for Russia and Oppose the Magnitsky Bill?
I’m liberal, but not “progressive” — and there’s a reason.
And that’s because I often feel that many of the positions “progressives” take (I always put the term in scare quotes because I don’t think it’s a valid description) are antithetical to universality and human rights. It’s usually about a certain kind of myopia and selectivity — a propensity to take out the magnifying glass for the sins of America or Israel, yet not find a thing to say about Palestinian or Taliban terror, even if provided with a telescope. And telescopes are what they do use to look for some problems, and not others, far away — the killing by American troops of civilians in Afghanistan, but never the killings by the Taliban, which make up now 85 percent of the civilian deaths. “Progressives” cheer Egyptian democracy demonstrators, even if they throw rocks; they look fearfully around and ask questions about one broken door caused by provocateurs in Belarus the night 600 people were arrested, many beaten brutally by police. Or maybe they’ve never heard of Belarus…
With the exception of Israel, nowhere do you see the gap in the “progressive” conscience, that can plead for justice and human rights and dignity in so many places, than on Russia. On Russia, the “progressives” can be as horribly indifferent to massive human rights problems as the Kremlin itself, and worse, justify them. They can advocate Realpolitik like the Nixon administration and Kissinger; they can back the “reset” without a single question about press freedom or the North Caucasus. Is this just a harkening back to the old Moscow line of the socialist movements of the 1960s and 1980s that always shielded Moscow from criticism? Or is it a more modern form of OstPolitik that imagines that the statecraft of foreign policy — one controlled by proper liberals, of course — will do best if it doesn’t antagonize another great power? What is this really all about?
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Reset on the Ropes?
Earlier today, Republican Rep. Peter Roskam, deputy whip in the House, put out a statement signaling his support for the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act.
“As the Obama administration continues its efforts to ‘reset’ relations with Russia, the United States Congress can and must press for progress on democracy and rule of law in Russia,” said Congressman Peter Roskam. “Congress is considering legislation with bipartisan support that would impose targeted sanctions on Russian officials complicit in human rights and rule of law violations like the murder of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working to uncover official corruption, and businessmen like Khodorkovsky. I plan to support such legislation and hope to see it become law.”
The Magnitsky Act, which has been introduced in the Senate by Democratic senator Ben Cardin with broad bipartisan support, including cosponsorship by leadership in both parties (Kyl and Durbin), has support from some of the usual suspects (Lieberman and McCain), and even some of the newest members (Blumenthal and Rubio). The bill would require the Obama administration to compile a list of officials and individuals in Russia who have been complicit in human rights and rule of law violations. Those who make the list would be blacklisted from entering the United States, and their assets and bank accounts in the United States would be frozen.
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Short note on the extraordinary delegation meeting regarding the case of Sergey Magnitsky
On the 26/5/11the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee EU-Russia invited Mr Browder of the Hermitage Capitel Management and Mr Wiegand, Director for Russia from the EEAS, to update the European Parliament on developments regarding the Magnitsky case. A short report of the meeting.
Sergey Magnitsky died in pre-trial last year after having discovered a large scale corruption scandal. Magnitsky, who believed in justice and who did not want to give on pressure from officials that were serving their own pocket, did not survive the bitter fight he started against the Russian bureaucratic system. He was a lawyer for the Hermitage. His colleagues were shocked and in despair when they heard about his death.
Mr. Browder, the director of Hermitage had his heart broken at the moment he got the news of his death. Since that day he has been fighting for the justice Magnitsky was fighting for.
Mr Wiegand set out the attempts by the EU to get clarification on the case. The EEAS welcomed the resolution by the EP of December last year. In the meantime the case is mentioned at high level meetings with Russian officials. Also Medvedev´s promise to support an official investigation in the case is considered as a positive step. Until no official outcome of the investigations has been published, the EEAS will refrain from taking measures against Russian officials as was laid out in the resolution.
Mr. Browder also expressed its full satisfaction with the resolution adopted by the EP. However he is very concerned about promotions and awards recently given to officials that were involved in the case and outlined a number of indications of the Russian authorities to denial any crimes convicted by authority officials in relation to the death of Sergey Magnitsky.
Mr. Browder asked specifically for actions taken against the 60 officials as was proposed in the EP resolution, he is also of the opinion that neither the independent, nor the official investigation will lead to conviction of officials. Mr. Browder considers this case also as a clear example of grave shortcomings of the rule of law in the Russian Federation and believes that there are many more cases like Magnitsky where innocent civilians have become victim of activities of corruption and crimes by authority officials. unshaven girls займ срочно без отказов и проверок https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php https://zp-pdl.com/get-a-next-business-day-payday-loan.php hairy woman
Russian Lawyer Representing Sergei Magnitsky’s Employer Illegally Summoned for Questioning
Jamison Firestone, the former employer of Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, appealed today to Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, against the unlawful questioning in Moscow of his Russian lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, in breach of the lawyer-client privilege afforded by the Russian Constitution.
The attempt to question Mr. Gorokhov as a witness was made yesterday by Moscow investigator Alexei Spesivtsev in relation to Mr. Firestone’s high-profile petition to the Russian authorities requesting the prosecution of Russian government officials involved in the illegal tax refund scheme totalling US$500 million.
Mr. Firestone stated:
“The unlawful act against my lawyer clearly contradicts Russia’s obligations under international and Russia’s domestic covenants to protect lawyers. It is insupportable that Dmitry Medvedev – who is a lawyer himself, and who frequently speaks about the need for the rule of law in Russia – allows for such blatant disregard of the law by his own government officials to continue.”
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Law Society Event, A few words from me…
I went to the Sergei Magnitsky evening at the Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London on 26 May 2011. I wasn’t prepared for the impact of the screening of the hour-long Justice for Sergei that was filmed especially for the first anniversary of his death in prison on 16 November 2010. The movie made a strong point that Sergei could have escaped and he conscientiously didn’t make that choice. Until the last moment he believed in justice and rule of law, and he also believed that his duty as a lawyer was to document injustice and bring it to the attention of those in charge. That stated with his discovery of $230 million VAT tax reimbursement fraud and ended with the complaints about prison conditions that affected him and his fellow inmates among whom he often was the only one who could legibly complain and wasn’t afraid to do so despite the reality each complaint was followed by a deterioration of his conditions.
I thought that, after reading papers, online interviews and evidence submitted by REDRESS to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, I knew the story very well. After the screening, I couldn’t touch any part of the Magnitsky event in my mind and possibly write about it.
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The case of Sergei Magnitsky was held on the initiative of Marek Migalski MEP
Dr Marek Migalski MEP discussing the testimony given by Bill Browder at the European Parliament about the Sergei Magnitsky case.
The extraordinary meeting of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee on the case of Sergei Magnitsky was held on the initiative of Marek Migalski MEP. In his opinion, getting involved in the case of Sergei Magnitsky is a moral obligation of the EU hairy girl займ на карту без отказов круглосуточно https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php hairy girl
Bill Browder speaking at the European Parliament, 26 May 2011
Bill Browder speaking at the European Parliament on 26 May 2011
For more than a year, William Browder is involved in the case of Sergei Magnitsky. He was the keynote speaker extraordinary meeting of the Delegation of the Committee on Parliamentary Cooperation EU-Russia, where he presented a report containing information about removing the traces of the Russian service, and a list of persons responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky. займы на карту срочно займ на карту онлайн www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php займ на карту без отказов круглосуточно
Sergei Magnitsky Act entered into Congressional Records
Official transcipt of the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011” as submitted by Senator Benjamin Cardin.
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Bill Browder giving Testimony to the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights
Bill Browder giving Testimony to the European Parliament subcommittee on Human Rights. Chaired by Heidi Hautela MEP.
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To learn more about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky please read below
- Sergei Magnitsky
- Why was Sergei Magnitsky arrested?
- Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison
- President’s investigation sabotaged and going nowhere
- The corrupt officers attempt to arrest 8 lawyers
- Past crimes committed by the same corrupt officers
- Petitions requesting a real investigation into Magnitsky's death
- Worldwide reaction, calls to punish those responsible for corruption and murder
- Complaints against Lt.Col. Kuznetsov
- Complaints against Major Karpov
- Cover up
- Press about Magnitsky
- Bloggers about Magnitsky
- Corrupt officers:
- Sign petition
- Citizen investigator
- Join Justice for Magnitsky group on Facebook
- Contact us
- Sergei Magnitsky
